Marketing students create social media plan for community development project

December 13, 2013

Marketing students create social media plan for community development project

Student teams from Penn State Altoona have created social media marketing plans for the Pittsburgh-to-Harrisburg Main Line Canal Greenway, a regional community development project administered by the Allegheny Ridge Corporation (ARCorp). The Greenway project was the focus of an Intermediate Social Media Marketing course taught by Tulay Girard, associate professor of marketing, during this semester. The project was orchestrated by Thomas Shaffer, academic internship coordinator and co-coordinator of Penn State Altoona's Center for Community-Based Studies, as part of an ongoing academic-community partnership with ARCorp.

Student teams presented their social media marketing plans to ARCorp directors Jane Sheffield and Claudia Pequignot and will implement those plans during the spring 2014 semester.

ARCorp is a private, nonprofit organization involved in economic development, historic preservation, outdoor recreation, and environmental conservation along the 320-mile corridor of Pennsylvania’s historic Main Line Canal. The Main Line Canal was part of the Pennsylvania System of Public Works, a critically important transportation improvement that enabled the rapid expansion of commerce between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh from 1834-1857, when it was purchased by the Pennsylvania Railroad. For more information about the Greenway, go to www.mainlinecanalgreenway.org online.